


Pebbled Scales

by Enzuri



Category: Homestuck
Genre: AU, F/F, Femslash, Humanstuck, Interspecies Romance, Interspecies Sex, Nooks, Tentabulges, dragonstuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-30
Updated: 2013-07-30
Packaged: 2017-12-21 21:29:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/905145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enzuri/pseuds/Enzuri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Your name is Nepeta Leijon and you never thought it was going to end this way.</p><p>When the village leader announces it was time for another sacrifice you get scared. Not for yourself though, for Equius your qeijyre, your soul brother. The sacrifice has always been the strongest warrior int he village and there is no doubt in anyone's eyes that, that warrior will be Equius. Even though the Seer has yet to read the stars and bones to confirm it his friends have already started to say goodbye. You refused to. Instead you partner up with him on every hunt and spent as much time together with him as you can. It will take two weeks of meditation before the Seer will be able to confirm who the sacrifice will be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pebbled Scales

**Author's Note:**

> Hey sooooo this is a pairing I don't ship often but I had this story once and I never wrote it and then it seemed perfect for them.   
> Nepeta is a human.  
> Terezi is a dragon. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy~!

Your name is Nepeta Leijon and you never thought it was going to end this way.

When the village leader announces it was time for another sacrifice you get scared. Not for yourself though, for Equius your qeijyre, your soul brother. The sacrifice has always been the strongest warrior int he village and there is no doubt in anyone's eyes that, that warrior will be Equius. Even though the Seer has yet to read the stars and bones to confirm it his friends have already started to say goodbye. You refused to. Instead you partner up with him on every hunt and spent as much time together with him as you can. It will take two weeks of meditation before the Seer will be able to confirm who the sacrifice will be. 

Your mother frets over the news for a different reason. Your father was the last sacrifice. You were far too young to remember but she does. The village watches her now, every time she goes out, the memory of his loss following her. She counters it however, with trying to decide who to marry you off to now that her first choice was going to no longer be an option, after all it was going to be near impossible to find a man who wanted a husband as wild as you. You don't know how many times you've told her Equius wasn't an option in the first place but she's the town matchmaker and will pair whomever she pleases together. Everyone is a potential husband in her eyes. Even the village head's son, even though you find him unnerving and creepy. She's going over her most recently revised list when there's a loud and urgent knock at the door. Equius is behind it, his eyes disbelieving and dark. 

"They've made the announcement."

You're in shock. Behind him you can see the faces of your neighbours, hear their whispers. Your poor mother, shouldn't she have been safe from this kind of heartache again? The sacrifice has never been a girl before. You can hear all the things they don't voice too, about how this wouldn't have happened if you'd been an obedient child and grown up to be a proper woman. Murmurs of curses and karma ring in your ears until you can't hear anything else. Equius guides you inside, shuts the door but the ringing doesn't leave because now it's caused by your mother's sobs. Everything is falling apart around you.

The worst of it all is that you've always been fascinated by what is about to rip you from this world. The dragon of the mountains, the one your people need to placate. You've always daydreamed about it, read the tales and recountings of its time tormenting your village. Wondered what it was like to see that majestic form up close. Now you would have no choice but to see it and the thought makes you sick until there isn't even any acid left to scorch your throat when you retch. You don't think it's your role as a hunter that's punishing your mother but rather your secret obsession that's the cause. You brought this on yourself.

There's only a week before the sacrifice is to take place. The Seer cast his bones and found that it must be done on the dawn following the new moon. A week to say goodbye, a week to prepare. 

Traditionally it's the women in the sacrifice's home that stitch together the ceremonial robes of green but this time help comes from Equius's mother, and the daughter from the house to the left of you, the seamstress's girl. The help is needed because your mother spends more time lost in herself, eyes hollow than actually stitching. They tell you not to touch it, that it's bad luck but you remind them there is no worse luck that can befall you now and they quiet after that. You stitch the hems and are glad that you'll never have to do it again. The blind stitch or whatever Kanaya has called it was more than a little tedious to get right. 

You know the day is fast approaching. You're no longer allowed on hunts, they run the risk of you getting injured or killed before the appointed day which would be devastating to the village. Equius refuses to go out without you and spends much of his time around the house, trying to fix whatever little repairs he can. It soothes you to know that someone will take care of your mother when you are not around. There are not weddings or engagements this week, out of respect for your mother. You almost wish they hadn't decided that, she seems like a ghost, sitting in her chair, fingers clutching unworked fabric. 

You're not to sleep the night before the ceremony so you slept late in to the afternoon so that you could be mostly alert as the Seer speaks the words handed down through generations. You're clad only in a thin white shift, realizing your father was the last one to be knelt like this before the alter. Was he praying for your mother's safety as you were now? Was he as scared or did he face his fate bravely? You want to ask the Seer but you've been instructed not to speak or do anything beyond clearing your mind. It's hard to do that when thought after thought keeps pouring into your head.

Your mother is waiting at the door to the temple, green robe in hand. She helps you into it but stops you before you climb onto the litter that awaits you. The ring of white flowers she's worked into a crown are not traditional but no one stops her. She chokes back a sob as she claims that now you look like the woman she always knew you'd be. The tears that run hot down your cheeks are silent as she helps you onto the small platform you are to be carried on. One of the flowers drops a petal onto your hand. These are from the cliffs, she had risked much to gather them. You press the tiny thing to your heart and don the final piece of your garb so that everything can begin. The wooden feline mask makes it hard to breath. You suppose it doesn't matter, you won't be need to breath much longer.

It's hard to see out from the carved eye sockets but you can still make out the outline of your qeijyre as he picks up one of the poles to his shoulder. Of course he would be one of the bearers to your death, he is the strongest in the village. You focus on his back and not the trek out to the ceremonial platform. 

You know the Seer is speaking but you don't focus on him, you just put one foot in front of the other as you climb the ladder to the last place you will ever be. You can't make out his words by the time you reach the top anyway. Your hand still tingles where Equius squeezed it before you started this climb. Built halfway up a cliff you can see the tiny procession line as they return to the village. It's now that you let yourself wail freely, losing everything you've ever known. At least you are saving them from the dragon's wrath. 

It takes longer than you expect, for your death to come. You actually cry yourself to sleep before the beast shows its face. When you do wake it's because a great wind has washed over you along with a shadow and you're disoriented when you push yourself upright. The platform is shaking badly and you dig nails into the edge of a board before you realize what's happening. 

The beast is smaller than you would have imagined it to be, teal scales glimmering in the pink-orange sunset. Its snout is long, almost delicate looking as it bends its serpentine neck towards you. From here you can see its eyes are red, a bright colour that leaves no room for anything else. It leans forward on its haunches before a grey tongue slides from its lipless mouth to flick the air in front of you. You don't breath. You can't breath. Every part of you is frozen in place as it sits upright once more, unfurling its great leathery wings. When you do breath it's a great gasping thing because it closes its talons around you and lifts you from the perch. 

You scream so loud it tears at your throat.

When you both land you no longer have the air in your lungs to keep screaming, it was stolen by the winds that had bombarded you as you flew. Your ribs hurt from where those great talons were grabbing. Some of your robe is torn and you lost a shoe but somehow the flower crown from your mother is more or less still in one piece. You don't move from where you were dropped, waiting for its toothy maw to devour you. 

The dragon stares at you for a bit before it disappears into the mouth of the cave. You watch it vanish from sight, confused. You don't move from where it dropped you, trying to understand. Did any of the texts ever say what happened after the sacrifice was left? You can't remember right now, everything is still spinning high above the ground. Had there ever been mention of the dragon taking its prey away from the platform? You'd always thought that it consumed the sacrifice right then and there. There's no training, no ceremony on what to do now. There's no point in trying to climb down, the walls around the opening are slick, there's not enough hand holds in the rock for you to risk it. All you can do is wait.

You wait until the sun's gone down and the wind's plucked away your other shoe. Still nothing. Then, a sound from behind you and you turn back into the gaping hole of the cave and there's someone standing in the shadows of it. A few heavy steps brings the figure closer and you can see how the legs are thick and twisted like the dragon's rather than a humans but the torso and arms and face are almost like a regular person's, just speckled with teal scales on stone grey flesh. You can't keep calling it and it now that you've noticed the figure is a girl, small breasts uncovered and making you blush. You avert your gaze to anywhere else and it's then that you notice the long straight horns spouting from her dark hair and it clicks. They're the same that the dragon who brought you here sported.

"Are you just going to stay out here all night?" Her voice crackles, seems too loud for her body and there's something odd about the way she pronounces her vowels. Still, what you're seeing right now, hearing, you've never read anything like it on the subject. "Well? Are you?"

You scramble to your feet and she's not that much taller than you as you follow her into the heart of her cave. There's a fire pit that's burning in the centre of the round hollow and its flames are casting light on different sized piles of things. One pile might be scales because the shape and colour seem mostly right though there's a few hints of blues and reds. Another pile looks like fabrics and a third is bones. Nothing about this room should be cozy but there's something about it that feels less empty than you thought it would, less cold. Maybe it's just the warmth from the fire.

She goes by the name of Terezi and doesn't answer any of your questions, she just waves you towards the pile of fabrics telling you to sleep. You don't understand and you don't think sleep is going to come for you but when you fall into the your place you drift off to sleep nearly instantly, the day's excitement having caught up with you.

You wake to the sound of your stomach growling fiercely. You haven't eaten since the night before last and even then it was barely anything. You sit up only to fall back again, you're dizzy and light headed. You probably would have let darkness claim you again but there's a prodding thump on your feet and when you finally manage to get your eyes to focus Terezi is crouched there. You start to wonder if there's something wrong with her eyes because she squints and sniffs, tongue flicking the air before she seems to realize you're awake.

"I don't know how you eat your food but there's food. Get up."

It's then that the sent of something roasting hits your nose and your mouth begins to water. Over the pit part of something is skewered and the dragon is poking at it awkwardly before she pulls some of it off and hands it to you. You don't even check to see if it's done before you shove it in your mouth, burning everything but not caring because whatever this is, is the best thing you've ever tasted. Even though you can't really taste it with how fast you're shovelling it in. You're probably going to regret it later but you don't care.

The dragon watched you the whole time, expression unreadable. Stomach filled there's a heavy tension as you wait for her to make her move. You still don't know why she just feed you if she's going to kill and eat you later today and that fate weighs heavy on the atmosphere. You finally ask her what she's going to do with you and her nose wrinkles in some form of confusion. She's not sure, the admission takes you by surprise, you're her first sacrifice.

It turns out the dragon your village has been appeasing for generations was this one's sire. That dragon died a decade ago trying to protect her young. She hadn't realized the village didn't know of the change which was why she was so late to collect you. She's not going to eat you though, her laugh is harsh and too loud when you ask. You weren't dressed for eating. You're not sure what that means and you slink back when she reaches out to tap the wreath of flowers still around your head though most of them are crushed and wilted from your sleep. These flowers have a particular meaning in dragon tongue. They're binding flowers, to have worn them meant you were presenting yourself as a bride, not prey.

It turns out your mother made a bride out of you after all, just to a great beast not a great warrior.

Neither of you are really sure what it means for you to be a bride to the dragon so she contents herself just to leave you sitting in the piles of pelts and fabrics while she does something else with her back to you. You think you can hear her muttering to herself but you're not going to ask what she's mumbling about. Instead you sort through the stuff you're laying on until you find a fairly well preserved pelt of one of the mountain cats. You shrug out of the green robe and toss it as far away from you as you can because it's just a reminder that everything you once had is gone. The pelt is warm enough to keep the cave's chill from your bones. 

It feels like forever when you finally break down and ask why there are sacrifices at all. The village's written accounts on the matter never explain why the ceremony became a necessity, just that they are. The dragon doesn't answer at first and you wonder if she didn't hear you except when you're about to repeat the question she starts to speak. 

Once there was the great dragon Latula that had nested in the mountains with her mate. His name was lost to the ages, too much pain behind it for the majestic beast to speak it. She and her mate occasionally took prey from the village's livestock, when hunting was tough and Latula had to watch the clutch of eggs she'd birthed. A warrior in the village decided one day that enough was enough, that the livestock needed to be protected from the dragons. He waited, in silence, until the mate came to collect another beast to feed upon. When it was in sight the warrior had struck, taking down Latula's mate. He never returned, she lost all but one of her eggs when she left the cave in a frenzy to see what had caused her mate's shriek. When she learned of his death she demanded the life of the man who killed her love, or she would destroy the village.

The sacrifices were always those that could hurt the dragon most deeply. She always devoured them to save the only thing she had left of her soulmate. 

You're quiet when the story ends and the dragon girl says nothing more, just waving at some roots that she'd brought over when she began her tale. They're ones you recognize and a bite into them reveals a crunchy, juicy flesh that fills you enough to bring sleep once more. You curl into the mound of softness once more and dream of two great dragons and one smaller, wheeling in a blue sky.

It's been a few weeks since she brought you to her cave and though you have the occasional conversation she is still unwilling to leave you in the cave alone when she needs to go hunting. Something about how you'll mess up her stuff or something. You've come to realize that she's protective of everything she's collected, including the pelt you took for your own which she let you keep but it lead her to believe you'll get into everything. Even though you promise not to snoop. Much. You can't promise not to snoop at all because you have a cat's curiosity as your mother always said.

Something else you've learned about the dragon is that her eyes seem to be not as useful as you might have thought. Especially when she's in her almost human shape. Her tongue seems to tell her more than anything, she can taste things on the air that you never knew were possible to taste and her sense of smell is miraculous. You're pretty sure she can hear more than you'll ever hope to as well so her blurry vision doesn't hold her back in the slightest. You forget a lot that she even has that problem, except when you feel her tongue flicking at the air around you, that always startles you.

She's at the mouth of the cave, the sun just starting to come up, her shape large and lizard like as she waits for you to climb onto her back. She's insisting you come with her while she hunts, she even offered you an old set of knives in case you needed protection. She clearly trusts that you won't turn them against her. Not that you think they would do much good, in this form her scales are thicker than any amour you've ever seen. They're slippery too, when you've settled between her wings you have to grip at small horns that run down her long neck and hope that you don't die.

This flight is more thrilling than the last and when it takes your breath away it's because the beauty of it not the fear.

You're perched in a tree when you spot what she looks like she's getting ready to pounce on. You won't allow it, your mouth set in a firm line as you inform her as much. She asks you why and when you explain it's because they're only cubs she doesn't seem to care but agrees that she'll only take the adults even though the baby's flesh will be more tender. You tell her you don't care, that you won't eat such young meat and she grumbles and searches for a new target. She lets you wander a little bit and that bags you a couple of rabbits. Knives were always a specialty of yours.

Eventually she stops taking you on every hunt after you show her how you work the snares for catching smaller game, claiming she works better alone. You think it's just that she trusts you now. Like always you say goodbye to Terezi when the sun first starts to rise but unlike your normal routine of sorting through the pile you've been sleeping on to make something more efficient you plan on snooping. You figure it's been long enough that she might forgive you for that trespass. 

There's a corner of the cave that she always seems to rest in but always warns you away from, it's there that you head, wondering what could be such a big secret. 

On the wall you find drawings, crude and a little misshapen but they seem to be heartfelt, spanning over quite a bit of space. You never knew that she likes to draw. Just looking at it gets your fingers itching, remembering the lessons you had to take when your mother was still trying to turn you into a lady. There's a handwoven basket that looks ancient holding onto the coloured chalks that had been used on the walls, you can't resist, you take them over to your unofficial side of the cave to find a smooth surface to use. You find one but you're not sure what you want to even try drawing. In the end you make a small grid and think back on your old life, the one that you still long for when you close your eyes at night.

You grin and decide to take a leaf out of your mother's book, starting with Equius. You draw a small, rough portrait of his face, drawing one of the shepherdesses next to him. You know that he's been in love with her forever and you wonder if he ever got the courage to tell her so without you hounding him. You go through everyone else you knew like this, drawing them and whoever you felt they should share a love with, mostly to forget about the ache you feel when you think about your qiejyre. You understand now why your mother must love her job so much, you get a thrill from pairing up those you think would be most suited, though unlike your mother you are not restricted by genders and age like her matches have to be. 

You pause at one particular friend. Once upon a time you would have put yourself with him no matter what, your mother refused it because he was almost a total outcast and more than a little angry. Now when you think about him you don't find your heart fluttering in that familiar way. But that sensation hasn't escaped you entirely. You've been trying not to think about it, when that flutter in has returned, because it seems entirely too crazy an idea to even entertain. 

"The mighty huntress has returned with her kill." You can hear the slight grinding of bones that always accompanies Terezi's shift from one form to another. You aren't supposed to have the chalk and you start to panic, not sure what to do, knowing you'll be caught red handed. 

There's a thump behind you as she drops her kill by the fire pit, you can see that it's an adult deer, two of them actually, and you ignore the slight twist in your chest when you realize she's still listening to your instruction from that one hunting trip. That actually makes you feel worse for snooping like you did. You're still frozen in place by the thing you should not have been doing and your lack of response has not gone unnoticed. She trots over, you can feel her tongue flicking past your cheek and you have to hold your breath to try not to sigh. You've been feeling like you're starting to go crazy from this. You made her start wearing a shirt you fashioned from some of the less torn fabric, just so that you wouldn't be staring at her but she just shifted from her big form and doesn't have it on yet.

Her chin is resting on your shoulder and you can't tell if the tensing of your muscles is because she's so close or because she's going to probably tear you to shreds for going into her things. 

"I didn't know you could draw." Her usually harsh voice is hushed next to your ear. "Draw me." 

She sits back and looks at you excitedly, waiting. You try to keep your eyes on her face only as you put her in one of the empty boxes near the bottom of your grid. She has to get really close to the wall before she makes a chirping noise that you assume is a good thing because she's grinning and even though all her teeth are showing it looks like a happy thing rather than a threat. She demands that you put someone with her, like you have with all the rest and when you ask who she wants she just stares at you, her eyebrows furrowed like she's hurt. She just tells you to forget it as she stalks back off to clean her kill. It's not until your heart has stopped pounding so loudly in your ears that you realize who you want to draw in the box with her. You don't come when dinner is called, focusing on adding the last bit to her particular part of this chart.

She doesn't come over until much later, when you're staring at it, trying to figure out if it was the right thing to do or not. It seems crazy to admit to yourself that you're falling for the creature that was supposed to have killed you but you suppose this is why your mother always says that matters of the heart are tricky. 

This time her tongue doesn't graze the air next to your face, it runs itself up your neck. She declares you taste as sweet as she thought you would. You want to ask her if she regrets it, not eating you, bringing you all the way up here but instead of listening to logic you lean in to kiss her. Her lips are cool and a little less soft than you imagined your first kiss would be but there's a subtle spiced scent to her skin when you're this close. It's enticing enough you don't want to pull away but you do. 

She murmurs a question, if you're sure, really sure. You are, especially when her soft breath on your face brought another wave of spices. You answer by kissing her again and this time she kisses you back. Now you know just how cool her tongue is when it meets with your heated mouth, she hums appreciatively. you never realized how gentle she could be with her clawed fingers until she's running them up your arms, pushing your pelt off without tearing anything.

Your hands are shaky as they slide across patches of smooth scales and softer skin. It's not your first time kissing or even the first time you want to give in to the heat that's filling you, pooling between your legs. Not that you'd ever admit as much to your mother. You're still nervous though, even with those gentle hands in your hair because even though you've tried to be polite you've noticed that she's not the same as you when it comes to that hidden place. You're not sure what to expect, if you body is even compatible with her's but you want to try. Oh do you ever want to try as you melt into her cool frame. You feel like you're on fire while she's still as cool as stone.

She tells you she wants to see you, all of you and with the way her tongue flickers just above your skin you understand. She doesn't quite touch you as she tastes the air around you, hands delicate as she lifts off the white robe you've been wearing beneath the pelt. The cave's air is almost cold against the fire that is your flesh but her breath is warm in all the right ways as she makes her way all the way down to your toes, still not quite touching you. 

Then she does touch you and it's more than you expected, wonderful and curious, running along your stomach and thighs. Her expression looks almost determined as her tongue flickers out and rolls along the roundness of one of your breasts. You gasp, embarrassed as you feel the way your body response, nipples stiffening, heat radiating between your legs. Terezi makes a noise that sounds pleased as she does the same to the other small peek. 

Your hands make their way up her torso, palms light on her chest. There's something so comforting about how her body mimics yours with its reaction, something familiar about it that makes you a little more sure of yourself as you knead the flesh tenderly. She's more bold than you though, hand running along the outside of your undergarments which leaves the cotton damp under her finger tips. She asks for permission to look, she's curious and with a quivering breath you give the okay. She'd careful to just use her finger pads as she runs along your wet folds and you have to bite your lip to keep quiet.

She kisses you again, deep and sweet just like before, shifting one of your hands, gliding it down to the place that you've been most curious about. If the rest of her feels like stone this feels like molten lava, the heat of her so strong when you find another part of her that feels like something you almost know from secret moments in the night. She murmurs the name of it against your lips and you almost giggle because nook is a cute word and it somehow suits her so well. Your fingers plunge into the warmth, looking for the source of it. The trilling moan that earns you sets you to shivering but your confused when she begs of you to stop.

You wonder what it is you've done wrong until you feel something unusual moving against your palm as you pull it away. She just wanted to take a moment to explain, now that she can see that your physiologies are different. She's got something else that only reveals itself when she's aroused like this, a bulge by her terms. You run your fingers along it curiously and she makes a low purring sound in her throat. That rekindles the burning that's flickering under your skin, especially when she continues to explore you. Your kisses are sloppy and long, both of you gasping for air.

You both have to shift to get closer and at some point you lost your underwear though you don't remember when. Your legs find their way around her waist and when her hands are locked in your hair you feel something pressing up against your clit in a way that makes you gasp. Her bulge seems to have a mind of its own when it works its way into the heart of you, agonizingly slowly. You both have to pause just to breath when she's flush up against you, your body getting used to the stretch, her's getting used to your tight grip on her. She kisses you sweetly now, her teeth sharp but careful with you.

The organ starts to shift and writhe a little inside you and that brings a welcome wave of heat as she slowly starts the grind of her hips. It's not long before you're both panting and moaning in a strange rhythm that seems so unnatural but feels like heaven. Every nerve is alive and you can feel your toes reaching, your fingers grabbing at skin and horn. When you grab at the latter Terezi doesn't quite growl but it's something similar and the vibration of it through her to you just tips you over the edge and you climax with a wordless cry. She holds out a little longer but when she follows it's with a keening that echoes through you, making you shudder with little aftershocks.

Tonight is the first night she curls up with you on the bed of fabric and pelts, keeping you warm and close. 

Things settle down and you both seem happy with this strange new life except you can't forget your geijyre and without him you still feel as if there is a hole in your heart. Terezi doesn't miss your moments of sadness and one night when she comes back from hunting she's out of breath, hissing for you to climb up. You settle on her back, more at ease than you were that first flight. You trust her. Still you have no idea where you're going because you pass right over the usual hunting grounds, heading in the direction of the village. Oh. You close your eyes, you can't look at it, your heart already feels as though whatever is squeezing it will make it burst. When you feel her descending you want to tell her to stop but your voice is caught under the lump in your throat.

She lands gracefully despite a voice yelling at her to stay back and your eyes snap open because you would know that voice anywhere. You're scrambling off Terezi's back and running towards the source. It's a solid wall of muscle you wrap your arms around and Equius's arms hand you lifted off the ground moments later. The two of you are crying more than talking and you can't believe it.  
He and you talk, per,he'd outside of town because you refuse to go in as you tell him about what happened, about how you're not a dragon's bride. He falters over that concept and starts to sweat when he asks how it's even possible but you don't go into detail, just blush darkly when you think of that night. You talk until you can see the starting of dawn and you know how dangerous it is for your dragon to be so close to town so you beg your leave. He points out that the dragon left long ago, before you both settled down to talk and your heart sinks. Again he tries to convince you to go back to the village but you refuse, choosing to stay here and wait for Terezi's return.

It's dawn of the next day when you finally accept she's not coming back. You don't understand, was there something you did wrong? Your friends and family are happy to see you return but you don't really register it, still upset over you apparent abandonment. You refuse to let you 'imprisonment' go as everyone tells you to do and being home, within four walls makes you feel more trapped than you ever dis in the cave. You don't scream but you get sullen and soon the only one who wants to see you at all is Equius and even seems to be at a loss as to what to do. It takes you a week to figure it out, to come up with a plan. The Seer doesn't want you here anyway, claims your an omen of bad luck.

You're careful about what you pick to take for the journey you're ready to embark on. Except there's one thing you can't get on your own. When you enlist Equius's help he agree but only after he's voiced his disagreement with your plan. He only just got you back and there was a chance you could get hurt or killed doing this. Then again it's killing him to see you so listless and lifeless and he would rather see you happy. However he insists on helping you, meeting you the hour before dawn on the day of the plan. In his hands a flower crown. He's good with his hands, the pattern is more intricate than your mother's had been.

It takes you two days for you both to reach the first few, sparse trees that marked the hidden hunting grounds just past the first ridge of the mountain range. You try to get Equius to turn back now but he insists on staying until he knows you've found her. It takes another day to get into the heart of the forest and find the lake you know she prefers to stick near. You get lucky the next day because she comes to drink but doesn't notice you until you're close enough to call her name. She looks like she's going to take off but then she sees the flower crown in your hair.

"You left me behind silly, aren't you supposed to hang onto your bride?"

It turns out that she'd just been trying to make you happy, to give you back to a life you'd been ripped from. She hadn't realized that you'd fallen for the new life you'd been given the chance to make. You remark that there were times with Terezi you didn't know it was possible to be so happy. She looks as sullen as her long reptilian form will allow and mutters a question about your beloved. It takes you a moment to realize she thinks that you're in love with Equius. You explain that the tall warrior is your spirit bound brother and the love you have for him is the same that you feel for your mother. You tell her that she's your real beloved. 

It doesn't take long for you all to work out a plan, that once a month during the moon's darkest phase you'll come in the night to make sure that your qeijyre was still alright. He turns down her proposal of a ride partway back to the village and bids you health and happiness. You bid him the same and remind him to snatch up that little shepherdess before anyone else does. He tells you to stop acting so much like your mother and disappears into the woods. You and Terezi take to the skies.

 

She's so much warmer against you now, warmer than you ever thought her smooth skin could be. She woke you to show you how the moon's light was spilling in from a small crack in the cave. The moon was fast forgotten though as her lips make a trail along your body as if she needs to taste every part of you. She laughs when you say that and tells you that is exactly what she is doing. Her head dips between your knees and that cool tongue probes the core of your fire and as you let yourself come undone you know that your name being chosen was fate and that there would never be a love as strong as this.


End file.
